Welcome

Growing up in Orange County I was very involved with travel softball and spent many tournaments playing in Clovis, Lodi, Stockton, Sacramento, Freemont, etc and never knew of Merced although passed through many times. Before moving to Yosemite in the fall of 2003 I would visit my mom and we would take shopping trips to Merced and stroll the downtown area and shortly after moving to Yosemite valley I quickly learned the route to make our weekly trips in to Merced for "supplies," aka, Costco and Target fixes. That is when I discovered Merceds tag line of being the "Gateway to Yosemite."
Since moving to Merced in 2006 I have enjoyed the change of styles in the local weddings here versus the destination of Yosemite. Actually I'm still always blown away when I meet with my local clients and they are going through plans telling me about the 500+ guests ready to attend their wedding when my largest Yosemite wedding ever was 185 but on average approx 75.
Well the first few years of living in Merced I still heavily commuted to Yosemite for my events and also got in connection with some new local venues and private establishments. Having the variety of locations really opened up my inspiration for my designing as well. And then it happened.... two years ago two local farming families combined their knowledge and passion (and always throwing in their hard work like tending to the table setting in photo below) and opened The Vista Ranch and Cellars. It is property loaded with an amazing event location for both indoor and outdoor ceremony/reception options, the most incredible bridal house with multiple bedrooms for all the girls to stay together the night before the wedding as well as a salon room for getting ready and an open room perfect for a bride to get in to her dress and there is also a Cellar house where I urge all of my Yosemite friends passing through to stop, taste and shop. They serve all of their own wines for the events and most of the fruits and vegetables are grown right in the garden on the premises!
Through the summer months they host weekly events open to the public to taste their homemade woodfired pizzas, car shows, cowboy nights, outdoor movie themes, etc. In the fall they have a gorgeous variety of pumpkins with all fun fall activities of corn maze, hay rides, bean bag toss, etc. Fun for the entire family!
Last spring I collaborated with The Vista in beginning a series of some marketing photo shoots to showcase all of their wine labels they offer. I pulled in some of my floral arrangements to enhance the table set ups as well!
I enjoy each event that I get to work there and am very excited for a full wedding season with them. This venue is such a blessing to our community and even if you are passing through, it is definitely worth stopping to check out as well!

How can you not love Lavender....especially when the wedding takes place in the most gorgeous lavender farm venue ever. I fell in love with Pageo Lavender Farms in Turlock. It is an outdoor setting nestled aside fresh lavender fields and surrounded by a rustic silos and barns that they have transformed into the bridal suite and restrooms. Tami and Sean had chose to marry July 21st, in the heart of the heat of summer and nothing could compliment that better than the dried lavender grown right on the farm. We used pieces of lavender in every element (including the cupcakes)down to each ceremony chair. The colors were enhanced with slight accents of burnt oranges and mustard yellows, fresh mints and rosemary and creams.
Taking advantage of the fact we were in a rustic chic dream and the fact this couple are hardcore bicycle riders we had fun bringing small elements to represent that. We used weathered window frames to hold the place cards which had unicycles at the bottom made by the brides mother. I pulled in an old bike wheel to hang engagement photos from. The grooms mother made lavender soap to give as a guest favors along with the guests signing one of my personal favorite books, "Oh The Places You'll Go." There was so much love and joy all over this entire day, I revisit these photos with a smile. The following gorgeous images were captured by Stout Photography.
*The following images I was able to grab during the day*
Venue: Pageo Lavender Farms
Photography: Stout Photography
Hair: Megan - The Pedi Bar
Cake: Old Tyme Pastries
Desserts: Family Friend
Chalkboards/Arbor: Grooms Father
Flowers, Coordinating, Event Styling: Natalie Galasso

About Natalie

Born and raised in Orange County, California, Natalie has always been in the wedding and event industry. Her career began in 1996 after graduating high school and going straight to work for her father's Southern California Italian wholesale bread bakery. Attached to that was also a deli/bakery that had been initially established in the family in 1968.
She was trained to be a pastry baker, making family recipes of Italian pastries and cookies and designing wedding cakes. This is when she was introduced to getting familiar with the variety of fresh flowers that she used to design on her cakes. Shifting through various aspects of the business, she was able to branch off into deli/bakery manager and sales to begin working with many chefs and catering companies.
With dabbling in other career areas, she also became a trained makeup artist and began doing hair and makeup for brides.
In 2003, she decided to take an opportunity to move to Yosemite Valley where her mom, Ginny, was currently establishing her wedding floral business. She teamed up with her mom to take care of immediate needs for bridal party hair and makeup and in the meantime, helping her mom with learning more about flowers and designing. In May 2004 she did her first complete wedding which was featured on The Knot! After which, she decided to focus strictly towards the flowers for weddings. After getting familiar with the venues and listening to clients needs, the consulting and coordinating process began. Planning destination weddings can be a difficult process and Natalie's passion for weddings is to take any of those concerns as well as their vision of the day and make it happen.
Over the course of the next couple years, teamed up with her mom with "Simply That...Flowers", they took on hundreds of weddings... making happy couples expectations come true!
Over the course of the years, websites were becoming a must and in order to build a solid portfolio, Natalie decided to tap into her lifetime passion of photography. Being a mother of three, she certainly has plenty of little cuties to practice on. She loves to focus on showcasing all of her artistic designs and also has begun shooting pregnant sessions, families, newborns and children.
In November of 2009, Natalie Galasso Designs was born. The company offers a variety of services ranging from creative and unique floral designs for events and weddings, cooridinating and consulting services for any bride in the planning process or needing support for the day of the event, as well as photography for her eye on capturing emotion and moments in our lives.